The Girls In The Ground
Bones / Beauty And The Beast
by Thomas Mc

Chapter 3

That morning Booth and Brennan received an e-mail from Angela. Seven of the eight dead females had been identified. She had been unable to find any hint of who the eighth girl could have been. Three of the girls were from New York. The other four came from four different neighboring states.

Booth was surprised to find that the last known home address of a girl named Cindy Wilson was only five streets over from his own current address.

The only common thread seemed to be that they were all runaways and there had apparently been no one really interested in finding them.

Booth dutifully forwarded the information along with the preliminary forensics findings on all eight girls to Detective Hughes of missing persons. Detective Hughes forwarded the information to the people who would be responsible for locating the next of kin and notifying them. He also forwarded them to Detective Henderson who forwarded the files to Catherine at the DA's office.

Detective Henderson next informed Elliot Burch that the cases were being closed and that he would be releasing the crime scene tomorrow afternoon. By the following morning Burch would be able to resume construction on the site.

Brennan was busy finishing up the New York part of her investigation. She was anxious to return to the Jeffersonian and get a closer look at those nine skeletons. She had an intense desire to find out what really happened to those eight girls.

~ o ~

By noon Booth was up to his eyeballs in his investigation of Catherine Chandler. He had already found out that Catherine Chandler had three natural daughters and one adopted daughter. This surprised him since she was not married. She had often been fodder for society gossip columnists up until she had disappeared for ten days back in '89. Then she had showed up with her face all sliced up and stitched back together and no memory of what had happened to her. She dropped out of the public eye, had some serious plastic surgery done, and finally went to work for the DA's office. Since then she had developed a reputation for accomplishing the impossible, whether it was bringing down the powerful and corrupt or getting into and out of very dangerous situations.

Booth spent most of the day digging into the backgrounds of Catherine Chandler, Joe Maxwell, James McClendon and Elliot Burch. He was searching for some way to explain the gut feeling that he had about those four people. He had started with Catherine Chandler but when he had gotten less than satisfactory answers from Agent McClendon to his inquiries about her he had started looking into connections between the two of them.

Booth quickly found that there were several incidents that connected the four of them. He was certain that Miss Chandler was the key that connected all four of them and the murdered girls found at the construction site so he concentrated his research on her paying particular attention where her activities included interactions with the other three.

In the end he was getting tired of constantly hitting a brick wall. He had found plenty of evidence of connections between Miss Candler and the others though there still appeared to be several unexplained incidents scattered throughout her records. But how this all related to the construction site case was as much a frustrating mystery as ever.

~ o ~

Later that afternoon when Booth found out that the investigation was being closed. He went to Agent McClendon's office and objected. "It's just too soon to close this case." He insisted. "There are still too many questions that haven't been adequately answered."

James looked at Booth curiously. "I don't understand your reasoning for keeping this case open. There's no point." He began listing the reasons to close the case. "There's nothing left at the site but dirt. All but one of the victims has been identified and your people at the Jeffersonian are working on that. The cause of death has been firmly established as morphine poisoning. The only known suspect, some reclusive nut job called Julian, is long dead. What else is there?"

Booth was unable to supply an adequate answer beyond a 'gut feeling'. "What about motive?" Booth insisted. "We still don't know why those girls were killed."

With the victims and the only suspect all dead, very little information available on the suspect, and no other records found, I don't see how you expect to find out what motive there could be, assuming there is more to his reasoning than simple insanity." Agent McClendon insisted.

"There are also those two folders labeled 'Escaped'. That means that there could still be two living victims out there that could tell us what really happened. If we could locate them . . ." Booth's voice trailed off at the closed look on Agent McClendon's face.

"It's been over forty years and no one has ever come forward. Even if they are still alive, What makes you think you can find them now?" McClendon's eyes turned softer and he continued with a hint of sympathy in his voice. "I know that you have been out on a medical leave of absence recently and you probably have a need to prove that you still have what it takes, but this case is just one large dead end. You're wasting your time."

That last comment hit too close to home and Booth dropped the subject. The last thing he wanted was to have his competence called into question, especially since he was already second guessing himself. Maybe Agent McClendon had a point about him trying too hard to prove himself but there was a stubborn streak deep inside that would not let him give up.

He decided to return to his hotel room to regroup and think about the state of the case. There must be some crucial piece of information that he was missing that would make everything that bothered him make sense.

~ o ~

A few hours later Agent McClendon sat at his desk brooding. He had done his best to get Agent Booth to drop the case but he doubted that he had been successful.

Using Booth's recent brain surgery against him had really bothered his conscience. He couldn't get the look that flashed across Booth's face when he had mentioned it out of his mind. He should never have brought it up.

With a sigh, he called Catherine. She needed to know what was going on.

~ o ~

That evening Booth was still wrestling with his doubts as he and Brennan were having dinner in the hotel's restaurant. Some of the things Agent McClendon had said at the end of their conversation still bothered him but he wasn't quite ready to give up just yet.

"I'm going to make reservations for us on tomorrow mornings flight." Brennan asserted. "I need to have a closer look at those bones. There are still some questions that need to be answered."

"I think I'm going to stay here for a few more days." Booth remarked to her with a frown.

"Why?" She asked, noticing the troubled look in Booth's eyes.

"There's still something about this whole thing that bothers me." He responded with a half shrug.

Brennan looked closer at Booth, a hint of concern flickered across her face. "What more is there? Cause of death has been established and all but one of the girls has been identified. There's nothing left to discover here." She cocked her head, looking closely at him. "Any further questions will be answered back at the lab."

Booth ruthlessly suppressed the doubt that sprang up at Brennan's echoing of Agent McClendon's words. "I know everyone thinks that I've gone off my rocker because of this hole in my head but I know that there's something more going on here. Miss Chandler and Agent McClendon are too anxious to shut this case down and get rid of us." He gazed into her eyes searching for some small hint that she still believed in him. "You yourself heard them mention the name Julian That first day before the investigation had even begun."

Brennan gazed back for a moment, seeing the hint of entreaty in his face, then sighed. "Alright. If you are that sure of your assessment then I will stay as well."

Booth shook his head. If he was wrong, he didn't want Brennan to be dragged down with him. "This is my problem and if Agent McClendon is in on it then things could get messy. You want to get back to your bones and I don't want you dragged into this if it should blow-up in my face."

Brennan thought that it didn't matter whether Booth was really onto something or if his judgment was being affected by his damaged brain, she had to be there for him. Whether it was to boost his shaky confidence or to pick up the pieces if it ended badly, she couldn't abandon him. Brennan took his hand and said what she knew that he needed to hear, putting as much conviction into her voice as possible. "We are partners and I believe in you. If you say that there is something more here then I will follow your lead."

~ o ~

That evening Catherine and Vincent once again stood together on their roof top garden discussing the situation.

"I don't think that Agent Booth is going to drop his investigation." Catherine complained with a worried frown. "He spent most of the day digging through old records from the 50's. He also has pulled all of the records about the Gabriel case." She let out a huge sigh. "And James tells me that Booth has been asking a lot of questions about me. He tried to discourage him but he told me that Agent Booth is one of the best and can be relentless when involved in a case."

"I still don't think there is anything for you to worry about yet. All Agent Booth will find are musty old records from before you were born." Vincent explained. "All they have is a bunch of forty-five year old missing person's cases and ten empty folders. Just another old unsolved mystery." Vincent took her hand. "There is simply nothing there that could lead to either of us." He pulled her into his embrace.

"What about my involvement in the Gabriel corruption case?" She complained. "James says that Booth has also been digging into the some of my old case files and occasionally asking unusual questions about me. That Gabriel case in particular is full of unexplained holes."

"That may draw his interest but you told me that there is nothing solid there to work with." Vincent countered.

"I hope you're right about that." She responded as she burrowed deeper into his embrace, seeking the comfort that he was always able to provide.

~ o ~

The next morning Brennan and Booth were on another video conference with their coworkers at the Jeffersonian.

Angela was reporting on their progress. "I've run the eighth girl's description through every missing persons database I can find without luck. We have sent the description and my computer recreation of her face to the national runaway networks but I don't think it will do much good. A majority of the cases from that long ago were never entered into any database. If we do get an answer it will be by pure dumb luck."

Booth shook his head. "The families the seven identified girls will be notified later this morning. The unidentified girls file will be relegated to the cold case files along with the thousands of other unsolved cases and her bones will end up in limbo. After that the case here in New York will be closed." He admitted reluctantly.

Angela shook her head. "We won't forget."

Cam jumped in at this point. "We're having a background analysis done on the eighth girl's DNA. A week from now we will know everything there is to know about her ethnic and familial background. There is always a chance that we will get a familial match from that. If we can locate a family then we have a chance of finding someone that recognizes Angela's rendition of her probable appearance." She shrugged. "It's a longshot but it's the best we can do."

~ o ~

Catherine entered Joe Maxwell's office. He looked up. "Close the door." He instructed. "Have a seat."

She did as instructed. "What's up, Joe" She inquired.

"We received these documents this morning." He responded as he handed a folder over to her.

Inside were copies of seven missing persons reports along with seven certificates of death. There were also copies of old faded black and white photos and computer generated images that were pretty close matches to the pictures. Each of the seven case files was marked CLOSED. Finally there was a computer image with only a death certificate attached and identified as Jane Doe #5693750.

Joe waited until Catherine had gone through the file. "Well that is it. The case is being closed and the families of those seven girls are being notified this morning." He sighed. "It's over."

Catherine looked up at Joe, a look of guarded relief in her eyes. "Is it really over Joe?" She paused glancing at the files in her hands. "I got the feeling that Agent Booth wasn't going to give up that easily." She looked down at the files in her hands. "And there's still this last girl that they couldn't identify."

"The case is closed and Henderson tells me that Agent Seeley Booth and Doctor Temperance Brennan both have reservations for the flight back to Washington this afternoon." Joe assured her then he glanced speculatively at the files in her hands. "Do you think there is any chance that your friends might be able find out who that eighth girl was?"

"That idea never occurred to me. . . All of the other girls, that were identified, were runaways . . . and we know that Jennifer was a runaway . . ." Catherine thought about it for a few seconds before continuing. "I could ask some of the older people." A hint of determination grew in her eyes. "If this girl was living on the streets for any length of time there is a slight chance that one of them might have encountered her." She paused again in thought. "But even if by some stroke of luck someone remembers her, that doesn't mean that we will be able to identify her." She shrugged. But it can't hurt to try."

~ o ~

As the plane bound for Washington DC rose into the afternoon sky, two figures stood in the airport parking lot and watched it rise into the sky and turn toward the south. Once it had disappeared into the distance. The two observers got into the late model sports car and headed out of the airport.

Twenty minutes later they arrived at a mid town hotel where they registered for the room that had been reserved just yesterday. They proceeded to settle in for the evening.

~ o ~

Catherine hung up the phone and smiled with relief. Elliot Burch had called earlier to report that his driver had dropped Booth and Brennan off at the airport and seen them enter the terminal. She had just finished speaking to Agent McClendon and he reported that records showed that Booth and Brennan had boarded the plane.

Now it was finally over. Vincent and her children were safe.

~ o ~

In the mid town hotel the woman turned to the man. "I'm still not so sure about this. You took an awful chance pulling that switch at the airport." She remarked then, with a sigh of relief, she continued. "Bu-ut it looks like we got away with it for now."

The man shook his head as he responded to her. "I had to. We had to convince everyone, including Agent McClendon, who could easily get access to the plane's passenger manifest, that we had really left. We also needed transportation that wouldn't be connected to us."

"It was a nice car Hodgkins loaned us." Brennan sighed. "I hope Angela and Hodgkins enjoyed their little trip."

"I think they did." Booth chuckled. "Next to his bugs and slime, he loves a good government conspiracy." He glanced at the clock beside the bed. "It's getting late. We can order room service; watch a movie then get to bed. Tomorrow morning we have an ADA to stake out." He picked up the room phone. "What do you want to eat?"

~ o ~

Catherine handed out copies of the computer generated image to the baker's dozen elderly people in her parlor. Five of them were dressed in layers of patched together clothing. One was dressed in a tailored suit. The other seven were dressed like normal middle class people.

She addressed the group. "All of you have been involved with the tunnel community since it began. I'm trying to identify the girl in that picture." Catherine paused as they looked at the pictures. "This girl was last seen in the 1950's. I'm hoping that one of you or one of your contacts on the streets may have encountered her." She paused. "Any information we can get on her may help to identify her."

Continued in part 4

'Bones' and its characters are owned by Twentieth Century Fox.

'Beauty and the Beast' and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures.

No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given.